Anyone who’s ever been astonished by The Matrix trilogy will remember iconic quotes such as, “Free your mind” or “Our way or the highway,” that really cemented the franchise’s place as a hallmark of film and philosophy in the 21st Century. Fans couldn’t be blamed if they want the much-awaited sequel, The Matrix Resurrections, to have just as much quotable dialogue as well.
Thankfully, The Matrix Resurrections doesn’t fail to deliver. Alongside reappearances from franchise mainstays such as Neo and Trinity, Resurrections retains The Matrix signature of weaving philosophical banter into ordinary dialogue. However, just which are the best quotes from the film?
10 "Just Like I Know My Job Is To Hunt Down And Destroy Synthients, Like You"
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II makes his debut as Morpheus in Resurrections, and this was one of his first lines during his confrontation with Jessica Henwick’s Bugs. In it, Bugs enters a Modal - a simulation designed to evolve programs and sees an altered version of the introduction of the 1999’s The Matrix. Before the agents she confronts realize he’s Morpheus, he knows that it’s in his nature to hunt down Synthients, “like” Bugs.
What makes this line interesting is how easy it is to gloss over this tiny detail. Soon, viewers will learn that “Synthients” is a term the Machines prefer over “Machines,” which humans learned during their cooperation. However, as far as fans know, Bugs is human and needs to jack in to access the Matrix. Unless, of course, Bugs isn’t actually human. The large implication of such a line makes it hard to ignore when looking at the bigger picture.
9 "Not All Seek To Control, Just As Not All Wish To Be Free"
When Neo finally awakens in the Mnemosyne, he’s surprised about the reality that Synthients and humans are actually cooperating with each other. Modal-Morpheus, through an exo-particle form, tells Neo this line to explain the situation.
Despite its shortness, the line does encapsulate what other programs outside the Architect and the Sentinels are doing for Neo and the Resistance. The Oracle, for one, doesn’t seem to desire taking control of humanity, just as much as the Keymaker simply wants to do his duty of creating access points within the Matrix. This line serves as proof that, while humans can be categorized as Bluepills and Redpills, perhaps Machines have a similar categorization with regards to their view on control.
8 "Nothing Comforts Anxiety Like A Little Nostalgia"
Funnily enough, Modal-Morpheus and Bugs spent a good hour of the entire film convincing Neo that his delusions about the Matrix being real were, in fact, real. At first, Morpheus tries to do a quick reveal to Neo in the Deus Machina toilet. “At last,” he says, in his original iteration’s intonation. “All these years later, here’s me, strolling out of a toilet stall. Tragedy or farce?”
And when this method didn’t work, Modal-Morpheus uses this nostalgia quote during his second meeting with Neo, this time set in the familiar abandoned room in a hotel. According to him, perhaps it’s really about “Set and setting.” This much is true, as it may need Neo a little more than a bump to the head to convince him that he’s been gaslighting himself for the past decades and that there’s a need for a hard “reset” to help him fully remember his destiny.
7 "It's So Easy To Forget How Much Noise The Matrix Pumps Into Your Head Until You Unplug"
When Niobe finally gets some quality time with Neo, she admits that she couldn’t believe Neo was alive - but couldn’t get her troops to try and save him given what little peace Io finally achieved under her leadership. She then uses the noise line, elaborating how much silence unplugging brings without the noise pumped by the Matrix.
Philosophically speaking, this may be Niobe referring to the philosophy of desire, where ultimate happiness could be attained by eliminating craving. Alternatively, this could pertain to true silence attained by achieving peace with oneself, without the unnecessary noise of public opinion or bending to the public's will.
6 "Do Not Rob My Ex-Captain Of Her Agency, Which She Exercised With Her Own Particular Brand Of Shortsighted Stupidity"
When Neo returned to Io, it was reasonable for Niobe to be afraid for her own city, as Neo’s presence may alert the Sentinels to their location. As such, she asked Neo to stay confined in a room with a good terrace for the time being. Funnily enough, “time being” meant for a couple of minutes, as Bugs and her crew came just in time to bust Neo out of Io.
After an unfortunate encounter with Agent Smith, Neo, and the crew managed to return to Io safely, and just in time for a scolding. Neo was about to apologize on behalf of Bugs, but Niobe used the “agency” line on him instead. This prompted Bugs to speak up about her disappointment in the lack of focus towards awakening more Bluepills. This line was a great prompt to help viewers realize that The Matrix doesn’t necessarily have to revolve around Neo anymore. Just like how Resurrections revolves around Neo and Trinity, this line gives more power to ordinary folk like Bugs to exercise her right to determine her fate.
5 "Did You Know Hope And Despair Are Nearly Identical In Code?"
When Neo tries to go to Trinity’s garage, the Analyst stops time and finally reveals himself as the main antagonist of the film. In his prompted villainous monologue, he reveals that he’s taken over the role of the Architect and created this new Matrix. He realized that both Neo and Trinity held tremendous power together, and it’s capitalizing on their “hope” to once again come together and coupled with humanity’s propensity to stick to their personal beliefs that helped this Matrix succeed.
The Analyst then delivers the “hope” line, which he follows up that everything is about fiction. “The only world that matters is the one here,” he said, referring to the mind. “What validates and makes your fiction real? Feelings. Here’s the thing about feelings: they’re so much easier to control than facts.” This line also seems like a jab towards modern news writing, storytelling, and marketing - where those in power can capitalize on what others feel to steer them into the narrative they want to propagate.
4 "Where Better To Bury Truth Than Inside Something As Ordinary As A Video Game?"
A horrific example of the Analyst’s speech regarding the manipulation of feelings comes from Bugs herself. When Neo confides that he felt “off” when the new Matrix made him think his experiences were just a game, Bugs hits him with the “truth” line. “They took your story that meant so much to people like me, and turned it into something trivial.” After all, what better way to demoralize the enemy than to make them seem like their effort is all for naught?
Bugs continues to express her frustrations regarding the Matrix. “It weaponizes every idea. Every dream. Everything that’s important to us.” This seems to reflect how it could be so hard for a Bluepill to jack out of the Matrix when the simulation implies it has everything the Bluepill needs to achieve their dreams. This is similar to how Cypher in 1999’s The Matrix chose to remain inside The Matrix so he can relish things that actually “feel” good, considering how being awakened in an apocalyptic world wasn’t as fulfilling for him.
3 "Anyone Could Have Been You, Whereas I've Always Been Anyone"
Agent Smith’s surprise assistance near the end of the film helped Neo get to Trinity and free her from the Matrix’s illusion. After Agent Smith dispatches the Analyst, he tells Neo the “anyone” line before morphing into a Bluepill, having seemingly disappeared within the system.
This is a nifty callback to Agent Smith’s ability as an Agent to use anybody as a means to hunt down rogue elements like Neo. It’s also a neat way of stating that, whereas he can technically assimilate anyone into his being, that he can “disappear” into the system as though he didn’t exist. Moreover, his line “Anyone could have been you” has vast implications for the nature of Neo as the one. It’s been heavily debated as to whether Neo’s title was exclusive to him or something other people can earn, and Agent Smith’s line seems to confirm the latter.
2 "The Choice Is An Illusion"
When Neo talked to Bugs in the Mnemosyne, he said she sounded like the Oracle. Unfortunately for Neo, Bugs explained that after the new Matrix was created, exiled programs like the Oracle were apparently purged. Interestingly enough, talking with Neo wasn’t the only thing that Bugs did that made her like the Oracle. In the first sequence of the film, Bugs tells Modal-Morpheus that the Red Pill versus Blue Pill dilemma wasn’t really a question of choice. After all, the choice is already an illusion - and “you already know what you have to do.”
This quote was a nice callback to the Oracle, who kept reminding Neo that the question about one’s destiny is “moot” because he already knows what he’s going to do. For the Oracle, when a person is presented with a choice, they almost always already know what they want to do. However, what’s important is understanding why they want to make that choice.
1 "Just Remind People What A Free Mind Can Do"
Just before the film ends, reawakened Neo and Trinity bust into the house of the Analyst, who wasn’t exactly surprised at their arrival. Trinity, now also sporting a black trenchcoat like Neo, demonstrated her newfound powers to him - ranging from flight to being capable of killing him and even returning him to life with a snap of a finger. While Neo and Trinity tell the Analyst they plan on making a few changes to the world, the Analyst tells them that whatever they do, people would always prefer security and comfort.
That’s when the two say the above quote, before flying out of the broken house. This heavily implies that part of Neo and Trinity’s next mission isn’t to just necessarily “awaken” Bluepills into Redpills, but rather also teach them how much they could do inside the new Matrix. In real life, it’s as though Neo and Trinity are saying that an open mind that tries to be open as much as possible would have access to a lot more creativity.
The Matrix Resurrections was released on December 22, 2021, in the United States.